"Forgotten Man?"Jimmie Johnson, 2006 Allstate 400 at the Brickyard winner (and may I remind you, the defending Sprint Cup Champion), sits on the pole for this year's edition. His lap of 181.763 miles an hour around the 2 1/2 mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway was good enough for his first ever pole at Indy, 2nd pole of 2008--15th top 10 start of 2008...and of 239 races...the 15th time he's started on the pole. Mark Martin almost nipped Johnson for the pole...he'll share the all Chevy front row with a 181.393 mile an hour lap. Ryan Newman starts 3rd...best of the Dodge Boys at 180.970 miles an hour. Jamie McMurray heads the Blue Oval Ford gang, starting 8th at 180.321 miles an hour. The winner of last year's race--Tony Stewart--is the best of the Toyota crew starting 14th with a speed of 179.480.
Practice for a couple hours beckons.
UPDATE: We're seeing the same thing ESPN folks are seeing on their broadcast of "Happy Hour" final practice--some unusually quick tire wear. Competition VP Robin Pemberton said something about giving the teams an extra set (rights and lefts) of Goodyear Racing Tires. The powers that be (NASCAR Prexy Mike Helton, Pemberton, Series Director John Darby among others) will huddle after the practice finishes. Greg Stucker, Goodyear Racing Marketing Boss, says the teams will have up to 10 sets of tires for the race...and believe they have enough here in Indianapolis to take care of the teams.
We'll join you on raceday with some musings.
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